U.S. fighting increase in tax crimes under Obama: watchdog

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has been bringing more criminal tax prosecutions against Americans under President Barack Obama than under President George W. Bush, with a surge in tax refund fraud partly to blame, a non-partisan watchdog said on Tuesday.

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) said in a report that it found that under Obama the average annual number of tax crime prosecutions sought by the Justice Department has been 1,568, versus 1,303 under Bush.